Lilith Pov

As I sit and watch the fox girl I hear the ding of a notification and it catches my attention because I'm not even doing anything. I already have a visitor. This one is enough. I won't ask for more. I pull up my notifications just to be sure though.

[Reminder. Every delver who conquers a floor must be rewarded with a soul empowering gem.]

Oops. I did forget all about that. I quickly make one for her and three for me and drop hers on the table before bringing my attention back to the eighth floor.

I float from my oasis to my pyramid and gasp in surprise. It's actually the first time i've checked this place out. Me and always getting ahead of myself and distracted.

I was once on vacation in Granada, Spain and I went to a museum that had an Egyptian exhibit. It had always left a deep impact on me and I had wanted to be an archeologist for a really long time. Now I feel like that dream has been fulfilled, I even have my very own pharaohs tomb.

It's so beautiful in here. There's hieroglyphics and gold everywhere covering the walls. It looks like there's a story on the wall but I'm not in the mood to stop and read it at the moment. I want to use these three gems and get back to watching my visitor and filling up my eighth floor.

The system never ceases to amaze me. It made my altar and all my figurines for me with the pyramid. I didn't even realize it was sitting here waiting for me.

I place myself in the divot, glad I'm no longer floating in the sand. I place all three gems to my core and feel like I'm going to crack again. Three gems weren't enough to black out immediately. I feel something click and it all goes black finally.

Well fuck. That was an interesting dream, memory, I'm still not really sure what to call it. Apparently my mom wasn't wrong when she called me an old soul. I think I've lived other lives besides this one and my last one. I'm not quite clear about it though.

All I know for sure was those memories and feelings didn't line up with my past life but I strongly identified with them. Is this normal? Does every soul have a long history? Am I a test subject of my own making?

Will I continue to remember past lifes if I keep using the gems? Did the goddess know this would happen to me and that's what she questioned me about it? I'm so confused right now. I need to toss myself into work.

I still haven't made a safe zone on this floor so I whip up a simple canvas dome, it's not the worst thing I've ever slept in by the way. It was airy and comfortable. I scatter twenty of them around the floor. That should make it a little easier to get through this floor.

After my awesome cabins and mining tents I feel the dome is extra simple. It doesn't even have a bathroom area. I guess I can add an outhouse to all the safe zones. At least the safe zone keeps the sand from flying around.

Even though it's only been a few days since I've let the birds loose on the floor, i'm good to go already. With my new time affinity I can just press fast forward so to speak and a week will pass in just one hour. It was a great choice to purchase the affinities from the system.

Messing with time is so much fun. I can hit pause and every thing freezes. It's like having a remote for the dungeon, I stop messing around and fast forward a week so I can continue summoning.

Next up is snakes, there's a lot of them too. Desert King snake, Sidewinder, Mojave green, Saharan horned viper, Horned adder, Striped whip snake, Horned viper and Desert whip snake. I summon thirty pairs of all of them and go back to focusing on my delver. I'm not sure how long I was out, after all. I know she didn't die while I was out though. I didn't get a notification.

Katherine Pov

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After staying up late last night looking at the dungeon sky she found it more difficult than normal to wake up, she stretched in her bed finding it especially cozy this morning. She pulled herself out of bed and dragged herself to the bathroom. She quite liked that the cabin was the same as the first floor one so she didn't have to get used to a new layout.

She didn't even have to open her eyes, after washing her face she felt much more awake. She was getting ready to head out and ask the kind bees for some honey, when she saw the sparkling gem sitting on the table. She paused. That's different. She had never seen that before. Just to be sure she used her skill on it before touching it.

She felt like the information she had just received was too heavy for her to handle and she felt her knees shaking as though they could give out any second. She quickly sat in the chair to take in this information.

[Soul empowering gem. The reward for clearing a floor in the Fox Paradise Dungeon. It will help you empower your soul and free you from the bonds of slavery. Unique to this dungeon. Might cause some pain. Put to forhead to use.]

Every time she learned something new about this dungeon it would throw her through a loop, and she wouldn't know what to think but this time her mind is blank.

Things pertaining to the soul are always made by Gods, usually the original Gods as most of the new Gods are never taught such things, therefore this dungeon must be connected to an old God. How unusual for a new dungeon.

She had heard of dungeons having Patron Gods but she also knew they were few and far between. They don't get much out of the exchange unless it has something to do with their divinty. She wondered what Patron God had taken this unique dungeon and claimed it before it could even leave a mark on the world.

She picked up the gem, it felt hot in her hand. She was excited and nervous to use the gem. She wasn't scared of a little pain. She lifted it to her forhead and gently made contact with it.

The headache was almost instantaneous but went away just as quickly. What continued to hurt was her chest where the slave curse took hold all those years ago.

She started gasping for breath trying to hold back the tears that were starting to form. Her chest was on fire and every breath was like a stab to her lungs. It took over thirty minutes before she could bring herself to stand up to boil some water.

She hadn't eaten before she found the gem but right now all she wanted was some tea with honey. She pulled out the little white flowers and the little purple flowers and mixed them together. She munched on a few berries while she waited, thankfully it didn't take long before she had some tea in front of her.

She added some honey that she had left over from the day before and sipped it slowly. She felt much better now. She decided against hunting monsters today. She just went out to ask for honey from the nice bees.

Once again they clear a space for her to reach in and grab some. She grabbed a bigger piece this time. It wasn't huge, she just wasn't shy this time. The bees didn't buzz at her so they probably weren't upset. She went back in to the house and laid down in her bed to get some more rest.

When she woke up the second time the sun was high in the sky and her stomach was protesting loudly, she had gotten used to regular meals.

She felt much better though so she got up and lit the charcoal, tossed some meat, mushrooms and asparagus into the pot and waited patiently for it cook. It was a quick meal but it tasted better than her soup.

She had never really cooked anything complicated before so she would just experiment along the way. She had nothing but time now.

Now that she was fed and full she decided to go out and see what else she could scrounge up to eat or even hunt if given the chance. After sleeping half of the day away she felt much better.

She heard the usual ding when she left the safe zone and started searching. While she did find some wheat when she was out searching it wasn't fully ripe yet and she wasn't sure what to do.

Looking around herself she made sure there weren't any monsters near by and sat down on the grass. She looked at the unripe wheat and tried to come up with a plan.

After fifteen minutes or so a crazy idea popped into her head but she had nothing to lose so she figured she would try it. She put both of her hands on the ground and concentrated on pushing her mana in to the ground with the intention to turn the wheat golden and ripe for harvest.

After almost a minute she no longer had to push mana out because it was being sucked out on it's own. She could see the wheat changing colors.

She became excited over the prospect of honey cake with tea. She still needed to search for an egg though so she was getting a little ahead of herself.

Once the spell stopped she heard a ding. She was a little surprised. She wanted to open her notifications and check but she had been here for a long time now.

So she grabbed all the ripe wheat she could in ten minutes and ran back to the safe zone and pulled up her notifications before she was found by that cheetah again.

[Congratulations! You have learned a new spell. Low Grow plant, you will help all the plants in a five foot radius grow to the next stage in their growth. You can now cast this spell with your scepter.]

Woah! She learned a spell skill all on her own.